Comparative plethysmography; evidence for a hydrostatic effect on foot blood flow.

Blood flow in the right foot of 11 subjects was measured simultaneously by a strain gauge placed around the mid metatarsal circumference of the foot and a water displacement plethysmograph in which the foot was resting. A close linear correlation (r = 0.88) between the results of the two methods existed over a wide range of blood flows. It was apparent however that blood flow at the mid metatarsal region of the foot was only about 30% of the total foot blood flow measured by the plethysmograph. The likely cause of this finding is the varying proportion of bone to soft tissue along the length of the foot. It was observed that the strain gauge estimates of blood flow increased two to three fold when the plethysmograph was emptied, an effect that was abolished by refilling the plethysmograph. These changes were highly statistically significant (P less than 0.01) in all ten subjects in whom this comparison was made. The application of progressively increasing hydrostatic pressure in a further 4 subjects demonstrated that the reduction in blood flow was proportional to the pressure applied. Explanations for this effect based upon small temperature and pressure changes altering strain gauge performance are excluded. Three mechanisms are proposed, based upon an increase in venous leakage, a reduction in arterial inflow and the consequence of increased capillary filling occurring as a result of hydrostatic pressure within the plethysmograph.